The Ravens havecome down with a serious case of pennant fever.Coach JohnHarbaugh began his session with the media on Wednesday by saying, "We wantto wish the O's luck tonight," and a lot of Orioles gear could be seen inthe locker room after the team's morning workout.Lardarius Webb took advantage of the off weekend to catch an Orioles-Red Sox game at Camden Yards, and Joe Flacco andRay Rice both met with reporters Wednesday while wearing Orioles orange"BuckleUp" T-shirts. Ed Reed is one of several players who have been sending out "Let's Go O's" tweets over the past week.
Flacco was a starbaseball player in high school, and his brother, Mike, is in the Oriolesorganization after being drafted by the team in 2009. Mike Flacco spent this past seasonwith Class-A Frederick.Flacco and other Ravenssaid it was impossible to miss the fans' reaction at M&T Bank Stadium whenthe jumbo scoreboard during the Browns game showed that the Yankees had lost thatnight to Toronto. When the Ravensfaced Cincinnati and again when they hosted Cleveland at M&T Bank stadium,several Orioles took advantage of an off-day to see Baltimore's other birds.When the Orioles in attendance were shown on the stadium scoreboard, fans letout a roar and started a loud "Let's go O's!" chant."It's prettycool to see the whole city kind of rally around them," Flacco said. Rice added that,"You see them guys at our games, and the genuine support so it's ... greatto return the favor to support our hometown. ""We've beenpushing our run for the last few years, and they know they had greatness withinthem, and now they're doing their thing as well," he added. If the Orioleswin and the Yankees lose on Wednesday night, the Orioles will host a one-gameplayoff on Thursday for the AL East title.
"I gotta getout there," Rice said. "Probably gonna have to call for a parking pass.You know how parking gets down there."

The 29-year-old right-hander lives in Sarasota and had been working out at the Orioles' facility before spring training. Manager Buck Showalter watched Tillman throw and was impressed.

Tillman began last season on the disabled list with right shoulder stiffness.

"Better than he did last year at this time. I think he's got the chance to pitch well for somebody this year," Showalter said. "A lot of the challenges he had last year -- this time last year -- aren't there. Somebody's going to reap the benefits."

Tillman's is 73-55 with a 4.43 ERA in nine major league seasons, all with the Orioles. He won 16 games in both 2013 and 2016.

"He's a guy when he's healthy you can bank on him giving you 200 innings and keeping his ERA between a 3 and a 4," Gausman said. "That in the AL East is always going to be very valuable."

Live baseball is close to gracing our television screens again. The Orioles haven't had the most active offseason, to put it mildly. Fans are still wondering who will make up more than half the spots in this year's rotation, and Manny Machado's upcoming free agency is looming over every decision the organization makes.

Still, it's exciting to be able to follow the team again. Not every game is televised, so get ready to constantly refresh your favorite beat writer's Twitter account for all your updates.

Even without getting to watch the games, it'll be comforting to once again check box scores in the morning to see if Jonathan Schoop is building on his breakout season, or if top-prospect Austin Hays is all he's cracked up to be (spoiler: he is).

This year's spring training will be especially interesting, considering how many big-name players will be signing in the next few weeks. The O's haven't yet made a big splash this offseason, but with the sheer volume of capable players still on the market, you have to wonder if they'll try to sign some impact players at bargain values.

Typically, the excitement of adding a new piece to the lineup or rotation has to be reignited after a long winter off, but this season, those additions will be taking place while camp is already underway.

It's going to be a hectic few weeks as teams prepare for thier seasons, so bookmark this page to check on on the Orioles spring training schedule over the next few weeks as the team finally takes the field in 2018.